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This paper aims to briefly discuss the flight shaming (flygskam) movement and considers its implications for tourism.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to briefly discuss the flight shaming (flygskam) movement and considers its implications for tourism.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper synthesises the current thinking on the flight shaming movement and contextualises it for tourism futures.
Findings
While flygskam is unlikely to become mainstream in the near future, it is imperative that the air travel industry respond more comprehensively to changing attitudes in the market.
Originality/value
This trends paper addresses a topical debate in the current environmental public discourse, highlighting the negative emotional states (eco-anxiety) associated with concerns about climate change.
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Sue Rodway-Dyer and Stewart Barr
The purpose of this research was to discover the impacts of taught environmental sustainability-focused geography postgraduate programmes on student attitudes, behaviours and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research was to discover the impacts of taught environmental sustainability-focused geography postgraduate programmes on student attitudes, behaviours and practices in relation to environmental awareness within two research-intensive universities in the UK.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study involved online surveys to measure environmental attitudes, behaviours and practices at the start and end of four taught geography postgraduate programmes.
Findings
There was widespread attitudinal change and an increasing prioritisation of environmental issues reported among participants after they had completed their programme. However, behavioural change was limited, and there was little evidence of greater awareness being translated into changed practices. The learning benefits included a greater focus on interdisciplinarity, holistic thinking and critical self-reflection.
Practical implications
The findings demonstrate that postgraduate taught (PGT) programmes in sustainability improve student awareness and concern about environmental issues but do not necessarily lead to widespread behavioural change. This raises questions for programme convenors about how education for sustainability can be truly transformational and avoid leading students to develop eco-anxieties over the scale of change required.
Originality/value
There is a lack of research engaging with students on PGT programmes, especially in understanding their impacts on environmental attitudes, behaviours and practices. The research provides an evidence base for understanding the effects of PGT programmes in challenging student values, attitudes and practices and by implication knowledge transfer post-graduation, with the potential to help protect the environment and identify ways of living better with the ever-changing planet.
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Climate change is not only an environmental but also a mental issue. Due to a new expansion in media interest on eco-anxiety or ‘solastalgia’, the chapter intends to examine the…
Abstract
Climate change is not only an environmental but also a mental issue. Due to a new expansion in media interest on eco-anxiety or ‘solastalgia’, the chapter intends to examine the multi-faceted nature of the concept within the recently developing area of environmental psychology. Remediation activities are likewise examined as means that can guarantee individual and societal health when combined with dynamic cooperation in endeavours for climate change alleviation.
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Extreme weather events are known to be detrimental to well-being, and there is a growing interest in anxiety connected to unfolding climate change. The purpose of this paper is to…
Abstract
Purpose
Extreme weather events are known to be detrimental to well-being, and there is a growing interest in anxiety connected to unfolding climate change. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the global association between information-seeking relating to climate change and mental health.
Design/methodology/approach
By using Big Data from Google searches and website traffic, evidence is presented that worldwide information-seeking for climate change and mental health-related terms are highly correlated. Regression analyses account for seasonal variation that is known to influence online searches for mental health terms.
Findings
There is an association between climate change and mental health-related information-seeking for the period of 2006–2020. This paper proposes causal models to account for the data, with future directions for how these could be tested.
Originality/value
This is the first paper according to the author’s knowledge to demonstrate a strong association between information-seeking for climate change and mental health and highlights the importance of considering mental health issues in the era of rapid climate change.
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Clémence Demay and Mathilde Krähenbühl
This paper aims to explore how the argument of “eco-reproductive” concerns was mobilized in climate change trials in Switzerland. Looking at social movements' advantages and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how the argument of “eco-reproductive” concerns was mobilized in climate change trials in Switzerland. Looking at social movements' advantages and constraints when having recourse to the law, the authors interrogate why the symbolism of reproduction and kinship represented a political opportunity to defend the activists in a judicial system where judging is seen as an apolitical act.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is grounded in legal research and research on social movements. While legal research focuses mainly on the study of legal and written sources, the authors used ethnography and conducted interviews to cross the perspectives of activists, their lawyers and judges.
Findings
In a context where positivist legal tradition remains strong, the “eco-reproductive” argument represented the advantage of being “apolitical,” thus audible in court. Used as socio-political tools, “eco-reproductive” concerns translated the activists' political claims into the legal arena. However, judges' conservative beliefs on family reinforced the depoliticization of activists' claims.
Originality/value
While research on “eco-reproductive” concerns has been significantly quantitative and exploratory, the authors look in depth at one case of application and highlight the limits of “eco-reproductive” concerns to appeal to decision-makers.
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How can students become transformational leaders if they are left alone to grapple with the emotional toll of climate change, preparing for careers while scientists sound the…
Abstract
How can students become transformational leaders if they are left alone to grapple with the emotional toll of climate change, preparing for careers while scientists sound the alarm that business as usual is untenable? Ecoanxiety, solastalgia, and climate grief are the affective undercurrents in sustainability and environmental science classrooms. This case study discusses strategies used to support students' emotional well-being in an introductory sustainability class and a co-curricular climate change support group program at Oregon State University. Psychologists and sustainability educators created space for students and faculty to engage in authentic dialogues confronting the emotional uncertainty of the climate crisis and working together to define their roles building a resilient future.
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Maggie La Rochelle and Patsy Eubanks Owens
To provide insight into young people’s attitudes toward community, place, and public discourse on youth and the environment, and to constructively situate the concept of “a sense…
Abstract
Purpose
To provide insight into young people’s attitudes toward community, place, and public discourse on youth and the environment, and to constructively situate the concept of “a sense of place” within these insights for critical pedagogy and community development.
Design/methodology/approach
This project utilizes a grounded theory approach to identify salient themes in young people’s expressions of place relationships through poetry. About 677 poems about “local watersheds” written by youth aged 5–18 for the River of Words Poetry Contest between 1996 and 2009 are analyzed using poetic and content analysis.
Findings
Findings include the importance of place experiences that employ risk-taking and play, engage central family relationships, and provide access to historical and political narratives of place for the development of constructive place relationships. We also present findings regarding emotions in the sample, showing changing levels of hope and idealism, sadness, pessimism, and other emotions as expressed in the poems.
Research limitations/implications
Using poetic analysis to study attitudes, values, and feelings is a promising method for learning more about the perceptions and values of individuals that affect their self-efficacy and agency.
Practical and social implications
Engaging youth as active participants and empathetic knowledge-creators in their own places offers one opportunity for critical reflective development in order to combat and reframe disempowering public discourses about young people and their relationships to nature and community. Educators can use this research to adapt contextually and emotionally rooted methods of place-based learning with their students.
Original/value
The paper uses a nontraditional, mixed methods approach to research and a unique body of affective data. It makes a strong argument for reflective, experiential, and critical approaches to learning about nature and society issues in local contexts.